Email 2 Thailand January 20, 2000

Hello to you all. At the end of this email is a copy of the report we just sent to the organization that sent us to Thailand. It will give you all of the information about what our work life is like. Now, I will tell you about our life as tourists is like. We spent the first two days in Mae Hong Son working and then the last two days playing. On Wednesday we awoke early had a great breakfast at the market, where we also discovered coconut pancakes. These are half dollar sized pancakes fried fresh as you watch and sold 4 for 5 Baht which is about 11 cents. They are delicious. We then got in a four wheel drive car with a driver and guide. The guide was a yound woman from the town who spoke english quite well and was very knowledgable. They first took us to a sugar cane farm where we watched a family pressing sugar cane, boiling it and making a candy with nuts and coconut. Of course we bought some. We then headed to the elephant camp and as you already know, from the picture, we had a great ride. We climbed onto the elephant who weighed about two tons and headed for the river. Crossed it and took a trail through the jungle. It was delightful. There were two elephants ahead of us and one had an attitude. He evidently did not like the one in front of him so he waited for the right time and as they went down a steep bank to the river, he pushed the first one into the river. The people on that elephant began to scream. It was quite exciting and lucky we were not on that elephant. By the way at the sugar farm we also saw pineapple, guava, banana, papaya and tamarind growing. We then headed for a village where the woman put copper coils around their necks starting at age 4 and steadily increase the number of coils until they are fully grown. They end up with coils weighing around 10 to 13 pounds. We did not spend much time here since we felt a bit exploitive. On to a chinese village on the top of a beautiful mountain. They grow tea here and send it all over the world. It was a truly beautiful and peaceful place. Pine trees all around, we felt right at home. On to a Thai village also on the mountain with a lovely lake and magnificent flowers. At this village they grow coffee so we had some freshly roasted freshly made coffee. What a treat since at most places when you ordr coffee they give you instant. Back to Mae Hong Son, we are exhausted. Next morning we arose early and headed for the coconut pancakes. We visited two caves, the first had many carp swimming In it and when you put some food in the water they jumped for it. The second is one of the largest caves in the world and was very beautiful. A guide takes you through with a coleman lantern and then you take a bamboo raft back out. It was a real adventure. At the end of the day we went to two hill tribe villages the Lisu and the Lahu. These are tribal villages on the mountainside. Very poor, dirty and depressing. However, the woman make beautiful woven items which they sell in the village as well as in town. Of course at every place we went like alll good tourists we bought something. Since we haven’t even been here for a month and already have many bags full of things to bring home, we will likely need to hire a whole ship to get everything home. As you can tell we are doing fine. Enjoying ourselves, Peter is taking lots of pictures, and even relaxing a bit. We miss you all and will write again soon. Love Hinda and Peter